


Better to Rule in Helheim

by DigitalMoriarty



Series: Mama Hela [1]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Fix-It By Making Things Really Weird fic, Gen, Loki just wants love, Mama Hela, Odin's A+ Parenting, Taking liberties with Hela's abilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-15 15:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 6,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13033788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalMoriarty/pseuds/DigitalMoriarty
Summary: Hela had never had a child. But adoption is always a valid option.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by seeing an absolutely awesome picture of Hela and Loki concept art where they are in remarkably similar outfits. 
> 
> The artist is [here](https://www.instagram.com/aleksibriclot/) and you should absolutely go visit to see the other awesome things they've drawn.
> 
> (now taking prompts)

She forces herself through the barrier only once. She has watched as her father (the coward) plasters over their glorious bloody history, as if he can so easily wipe away the war and violence that founded their empire. And when he brings home the baby her first thought is 'He will take this child and raise him as an Asgardian. He will strip from him all that he is and when he discovers it he will break and in his breaking he will lash out and attempt to break them in return.'  


It is followed by "That is my job."  
And that is followed by "But I did always want a little brother."   


So she steals him.  


She has stolen trophies for her father before, committed genocide in his name and this? This feels good.  


It turns out she's a decent mother, at least to this child.  


His camouflage does not kick in in her dark excuse for a realm and it is a Jotun she raises, one of those who had never fallen below her honest terrifying violence, who had had to be dealt with by trickery.

She teaches him trickery.

He's a natural.  


To spite Asgard, she teaches him magic. 'Women's work' Odin had called it, the great hypocrite.  


She had lavished love upon her Fenrir, she had been a good general to her warriors (she had cared for them, made sure they had the best armor and shields as well as weapons and she had never trusted to overwhelming the enemy with pure numbers when better tactics were available) and she turned all of that upon him, her twice stolen child.  


And oh, he flourished.  


He takes on an Asgardian skin to better be like her, he adores her as Fenrir did, obeys her as her troops had, seeks always to make her proud and happy.  


And he is vicious.

And he is cunning.

And he is full of mischief and trickery and magic.

 

And he can leave the dark realm where he was raised whenever he likes.  


When the time comes, she forges him a helm with her own two hands and smiles when she sees the sketches he has shyly offered her (he is sometimes a bit shy with her, made so by love and respect and desire to please and she finds it adorable, just as much as she finds his gleeful eagerness and joyous violence to be so). He has given himself horns, like her, more glorious than any other Jotun.  


She has given him as much of his heritage as she can from this place. He has known from the first that he is not her son by blood. He is her son by theft and choice and she treasures him, as she had once treasured her Fenrir and her finest weapons and her best troops.  


She teaches him the truth of Asgard. The history that Odin has erased. (and she shows him, shows him his would have been brother, shows him how Odin has remade things, for with him here, she has still more power.)  


Her sweet Loki. And when it is time, she garbs him in leather and fur, and places his horned helm upon his head herself. And she sends him out into the many worlds.  


He will make her proud, if for no other reason than he treasures his mother's regard.  


She can feel it the very moment his mischief and cunning have brought her what she so dearly wants and he is waiting for her when she emerges in darkness and death and hatred, smiling so happily to see her, red Jotun eyes staring out of his Asgard skin. And together they shall forge something new of this place which has forgotten its roots.  


Because Odin had taught her that well. A queen is nothing without her best general.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki will make his mother proud. It is the only thing he has ever wanted.

Loki Helason has been raised knowing four things. 

 

That he is not of the same sort of stock as his mother but she treasures those things which make him different. 

That his mother loves him. 

That his mother is proud of him. 

And that one day, Odin will fall and his mother will take the throne of Asgard is is her right, and he will serve as her finest general and right hand in all things.

  
His mother, who is great and beautiful and terrible, the goddess of death, tells him stories of Asgard. Of Odin, who stole him from his people, of the empire that Hela built at her father's side, until he cast her out, cast her away.

 

His mother, who is like a nightmarish storm made flesh, whose appearance could still spark bone deep terror in places across the realms, tells him stories of Jotunheim, which had not fallen to her honest blade while she was above, but which had been brought low by treachery. 

 

His mother, who will be queen of Asgard and all the realms beyond and will set him as beloved prince at her side, tells him stories of the future, of the rivers of blood that will flow and the worlds which will tremble at their feet. She will give him a great steed to ride, as she once rode Fenrir (and will again, when the time is right) and a loyal army to command (and he will treat them the same way she once treated her troops) and he will wield his magic and make them kneel.   
  


His mother loves him, no matter his form. 

His mother is proud of him, no matter how many times he fails, because every failure is a chance to learn. 

 

And one day, Odin will fall and Loki will be the one to bring him low and free his mother from the prison she is bound to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In another world, in another time, in another place. This is not that world. This is not that time. This is not that place.

He cannot just stride into Asgard and stab Odin. He must be careful. He must be cunning. He should... probably aim for subtle but neither he nor his mother have ever been particularly good at that one.

  
He does stride into Jotunheim. His mother will need soldiers to fight at her side when the time comes for their empire to flourish again, and the Jotun will want revenge. He promises them the Casket back. He does not flinch when his disguise melts, because he has not spent his whole life wearing it. He knows what color his skin is thank you.

  
Laufey stares when he announces that he is Loki Helason and he is here to make a deal.   
  


But make a deal he does.   
  


And then... then Midgard.   
  


Midgard, which is soft and weak and Odin's pet, his favorite ever shifting play to watch.   
And his mother is death and he... he is magic. And chaos.   
  


It is chaos he unleashes.   
  


And then he returns to his mother's side and his mother's smiles and his mother's gentle hands drawing him into a hug, her words "Such a good child." and her offer of a game of Hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl before she sends him out again.   
  


In a different time and place and world, Loki might have done anything to get the love he so desperately craves.   
  


In this time and place and world, he is his mother's beloved child and her love is the only thing he needs.   
  


("When we are back in Asgard, I will help you find yourself a wife."   
"And if I wish a husband?"   
"Than a husband you shall have.")


	4. Chapter 4

Her realm, such as it is, is not a place meant for children. She does the best she can anyway.   


Loki is a quiet baby, and she must keep fabric between his skin and her own until she manages to spool together enough power that she can resist the Jotun frost.

But he is sweet and gentle and Hela has not known sweet and gentle since Fenrir was taken from her.

And he grows, as children do, and she sings to him and tells him stories and walks endless pacing circles in her dark home.

She will raise him with care and love and understanding and she will make him into the most terrifying weapon Asgard has seen since she was cast out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one is ridiculously short. Oops?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jotun children are strange. Hela doesn't mind.

Every mother thinks their child is special. A treasure. 

 

Hela is no different. 

 

She had never thought to be a mother. Had never desired children. Had certainly had no time for any of the things that led to them, busy as she was expanding the empire, making her father proud, honing her skills.

  
Now she had nothing but time, and Loki was no mere product of random biology. She had chosen him.

  
Stolen him from her father and that thought still gave her quiet pleasure. Her father might have stolen everything from her, but she had stolen this trophy from him.   
  


Her red eyed child is swaddled carefully as she holds him close, rocks him gently. Her magic is not suited for helping her feed him, and she has no wish for frostbite besides, but it is not so hard as she might have thought. Jotun children are strange, and while she does not feel it, her realm is cold. And that, apparently, is all he needs.   
  


She wears gloves and lets him grab her fingers, tug her hair, smiles and strokes his dark hair when he snuffles softly in his sleep. 

Her child is special. Because she loves him and she's proud of him and someday he will be the key that frees her from this prison.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki is always and forever his mother's child. Even when other things change.

In the place Hela has been forced to make her home, there are no rules as to what sort of form one must take. She has always made that clear, from the time Loki was old enough to understand. She did not care what color her child's skin was, what color her child's eyes were... what gender her child showed the world.   
  
Loki was always and forever her child and the only difference between son and daughter, as far as she was concerned, was what accommodations might be necessary in future armor.   
  
Firmly her son for many years, changing his original self to something more like her, dark hair and pale skin and flashing eyes, she is only faintly surprised when she is greeted by... her daughter. Still dark hair, still pale skin, still flashing eyes, but with gentle curves and hair longer than it had been the day (if there were such things) before.   
  


And she can see the worry. See the half formed 'Will mother like this?' 'Will mother accept this?' 'Will mother love this as much as she loved the other self?'.   
  


And Hela knows Asgard. And knows her child (not her son now, unless he wishes to be) does not know what a defiance this is. But she does. And she loves Loki all the more for it.   
  


"I shall have to show you how to make gowns. I never particularly favored them, but you, my daughter, should try them at least once. I think you'd look good in them."   
  


And Loki-as-her-daughter looks even more like Hela, and her smile is bright and warm and delighted that her mother has so easily accepted this.   
  


But really, Hela had always expected it, at least a bit. The Jotun were known to be fluid in such matters, for what cared ice and snow for gender? And her child, her son, her daughter, was always a Jotun, no matter what skin the world saw.   
  


And it pleases her, the part of her that is vicious and cannot wait to be free, for her father to die and allow her to take the throne that is rightfully hers, that what shall bring him low is someone Asgard would never love. 

 

For she has named Loki god of chaos and this is simply another facet of that. And ever orderly Asgard will have to bow before her ever shifting child. What more could a doting mother ask?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freedom doesn't change everything

She'd thought that perhaps her love might fade, with freedom and the throne and her beloved Fenrir at her side and her warriors at her command.   
  


But she looks at him, bright eyes and dark hair and wearing sleek black and green, safe as always in his mother's domain, playing with Fenrir and she feels her heart go tight.   
  


Her child is her child and freedom and the throne and all that come with it has been his gift to her. He will see the whole universe bow at her feet, riding at her side, fierce and vicious and devoted to force them to do so, and she loves him no matter his form.   
  


And it is so very strange, to be sitting upon her throne (hers hers hers) and to be feeling things she had been oddly certain she would never feel.   
  


A maternal certainty that she has done well in raising her child, that her child will bring glory to the Asgard she has remade.   
  


She cannot stop the smile that curls her lips as Fenrir falls dramatically to his side in mock death so that Loki might give him belly rubs.   
  


Her love has not faded. It has grown only more certain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the fact that these are non-linear, but I'm mostly posting them as I'm writing them and I am... not the best at writing drabbles in linear fashion. Also my apologies for this one being so short!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some gifts are more special than others. Like the gift of freedom.

He is still wet with Odin's blood (he was raised with hate in his bones as much as with ice in his veins and love in his heart) when his mother emerges, sublime and terrible and glorious and he laughs with the joy of seeing her free.

  
Laughs and laughs and laughs, as the screams ring out and she sweeps a lazy hand up and another along and she is in her regalia, the one she always put on for his birthday, because it made him happy to see her so powerful.   
  


And she gestures and he snaps his fingers and the servant's costume is gone and he is Loki Helason, as he should be and he trails frost along the walls before sliding the illusion over himself.   
  


He accepts the kiss to his forehead as his due, the fierce pride in her eyes at what he's accomplished. His mother is always proud of him, but this? This is proof she was right, all those years ago, to use so much of her lingering power to steal him away.   
  


"Come, let us see what color paint he has used to cover up the bloodstains of our history."   
  


He is at her side when she shatters the foolish plaster, when she descends to free Fenrir (who is great and beautiful and should never have been hurt so and loves Loki from the first) and awaken those who were once buried with all honor and then forgotten like broken dolls.   
  


He is at her side when they discover the Bifrost locked to them. And from here, he cannot scamper along the fine branches that let him travel before.   
  


"Mother, do not rage so. Give me time. I can solve this puzzle."   
  


His tone is gentle, and she breaks from her wrath at being thwarted so soon after freedom to give him a crooked smile.   
  


"Trying to manipulate me, silver tongued child?"   
"Of course mother. For if I can lure you into a better mood, what chance stands anyone else?"   
"Alright. I will give you time. Solve me this puzzle darling, and I will see about setting matters in our empire to rights."   
  


And he will solve this puzzle, and he will make his mother proud, and death and chaos will wreak havoc across all the realms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mama Hela is so very proud of her child!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She will remake everything in her image and her child is a wonderful sculptor.

She gives her younger brother to the Grandmaster. 

 

Sakaar is safe from her attentions because even she does not dare go against an Elder and Loki loves the chaos of it. And she keeps her promise to the Jotun, gives them back the Casket of Ancient Winters, if only for the sake of her child. 

 

In return they give her records and tales and all the things she had not been able to give Loki when he was small. And they gave her warriors for her army. They know perfectly well what might happen if they refuse. Loki is delighted to know more about the Jotun, but even as he devours the knowledge, he makes certain she knows that she is his mother, forever his mother, forever first in his heart.   
  


And she loves him like she loved Fenrir and he loves her like Fenrir loved, unreserved and unceasing and now they are here, in Asgard and she has the throne that should always have been hers and she makes sure every one of her subjects knows that Loki will take the throne when she is gone.   
  


And Loki knows that she is never going to be gone and he is content with that.   
  


In return for Thor, the Grandmaster gives her a steed for her child.   
  
A huge elk, nine feet tall at the shoulder, with massive, sharp tipped antlers and sharp teeth, golden pelt and black armor and beautiful and deadly. Loki's magic wraps around it's mind and he whispers 'He's perfect' and the beast that had been trying to kill the men holding it in place bends to nuzzle Loki's chest.   
  


He names it Sigurd and Hela delights to see him charging into battle, flinging blades of magic and Sigurd's antlers flinging enemies aside to be trampled.   
  


She also delights to see her daughter, looking so very much like her mother, long gown trailing as she rides sidesaddle among the newly conquered peoples, a dangerous smile upon her lips.   
  


She gives him Midgard for his own, which is only fitting given the chaos he'd already inflicted upon it, destroying his would-be father's favorite amusement. (Her sweet cunning child, turning everything against itself and laughing laughing laughing as they destroy themselves in a blaze of nuclear glory).   
  


And Loki, her darling Loki, has given her Asgard. 

 

And the Bifrost (for no puzzle is so well made that her child cannot solve it's secrets). 

 

And together they will spread their glorious empire across the realms, whether they like it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can blame the fact that Loki's steed is a scary version of Thranduil's on my datemate


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What use is a prophecy in such a place as this?

She sends her Loki to negotiate with Surtur. Her Loki with a silver tongue and a serpent's smile and a mind sharper than the blade she'd once wielded.   
  


"Odin has fallen, the Asgard you wished to destroy is no more. If you wish, you could join my mother in her quest to forge a new one."   
"I want have my revenge."   
"And you shall have it. It is much deserved. But the throne you hated has toppled. Should you wish destruction, you should look elsewhere. If you wish, I know where his former heir lurks?"   
  


Loki will see his mother rule for a thousand thousand years and he has waited for thousands of years with her, racing across the hidden branches to work his schemes to get her free. He will not see some foolish prophecy fell her.   
  


And Hela, on her throne, with her growing army (for there are always realms which see the writing on the wall, at least if the words are big enough and scrawled in blood), welcomes her daughter home with a kiss to each cheek.   
  


"Surtur will not bend his knee, but he will at least bow his head. And I found you a present mother."   
  


She reveals it with a flourish, because Loki has always loved putting on a performance and there... there...   
  


"Oh my sweet child."   
"For you, mother, I would break the universe. But I thought you might enjoy doing it by your own hand."   
  


Hela cradles the Cosmic Cube in her hands and breathes deep.   
  


"Rest Loki. Our next campaign can wait for you to regain your strength."   
"Mother-"   
"Shoo."   
"Yes mother."   
  


And she bobs a curtsy, her eyes amused even as they betray her exhaustion, and leaves the throne room.   
  


Her mother's skeletal soldiers drop to one knee as she passes, train sweeping across the floor, and Hela, upon her throne, strokes the Cube, proof again of Loki's devotion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because that's just what Mama Hela needs, isn't it? A Cosmic Cube.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mother/Daughter bonding time is a bit different when your mother is Hela, Goddess of Death and Queen of Asgard.

She loves these times. When her mother will draw her in close and it will be time for just the two of them. Oh, when there was only the darkness it was always only the two of them, but it was a very different feel. She might sit at her mother's feet and listen to her talk of the days of old, the conquests and battles and triumphs. She might spend who knows how long across the Hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl board, studying her mother's moves, listening to her advice, learning and learning and learning. She might spar with her mother, who is as quick to praise as she is to correct.    
  
Loki loves spending time with her mother. Those moments her mother is feeling especially soft and strokes her hair, telling her stories of glories past and future. When she brings home a trophy, nothing grand, just something to try and give her mother some small measure of home in her prison, and her mother swipes some of the blood and paints it across the bridge of Loki's nose and across her cheeks and across her lips and smiles her warm, pleased smile.   
  
When her mother is free, Loki is afraid those times she loves so much will stop. Her mother will be busy, remaking the empire into what it was and should always have been, bringing the peoples of many realms to heel, restoring the glory Asgard had once had. And Loki, of course, will be busy too. There are many tasks a loyal child might accomplish to ease their mother's way and Loki has cunning magic and silver tongue and sharp blades. But those times do not stop. If anything, they grow better.   
  


She gets to be at her mother's side in battle, gets to wear an outfit just like her mother's and hear her laugh with delight at the death that spreads in the fields around her. She gets to tour the palace and lands, hear the stories of Hela's childhood and see the new lies her mother is painting over with the old truth. Her mother stages plays, because she knows Loki loves the drama of them, dramatic accounts of the exile of the rightful queen of Asgard and the way her beautiful handsome wonderful child freed her to take her glorious throne.   
  
Her mother always makes time for her, preserves the taking care of their bond, so that it will always be strong.   
  


"Because what is a queen without her loyal heir? What is a queen without her strong right hand? What is a queen without her precious child?"   
  


And Loki would gladly do anything for her mother, for those words and her mother's smile and the certainty that she is loved above all others.   



	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's amazing how much of life is like walking on a tightrope.

He can remember the first time he scurried along the thin, narrow twigs of the Yggdrasil, afraid of falling into the starlit emptiness on either side, afraid he will not survive away from the comforting dark of his mother's realm, afraid he will fail and suffer his mother's expression of understanding disappointment. 

 

He hates that expression. 

 

But his mother is chained, if not literally than figuratively, to the darkness below the roots. She cannot act outside her empty realm. But her child... oh, her child can. If he is brave enough, if she is careful enough, if he is cunning enough, if she is strong enough. His mother raised him well, trained him well, loved him well.   
  
His first trip was to some backwards place that his mother had never gotten around to conquering, and it takes him... well, time doesn't matter when travelling this way, but it is long enough that he's exhausted when he gets to his goal. This first task is more a quiet sort of test. Can he escape? Can he return? Can the plan he and his mother have so carefully forged possibly work?   
  
He returns to her successful and triumphant. Contraxia had proven an amusing exercise of his silver tongue, and it had only taken a few minutes for her smile (a carefully practiced imitation of her mother's) and her looks and her knives to get the information. He had stopped only long enough to take on the dead man's guise and steal some jewelry for his mother (trinkets, nothing more than trinkets, but trinkets that might make her smile) before making the long trip back.   
  
It takes him until his sixth trip along the branches to stop being afraid. But by then, they are certain they can reach their goal. They must only be patient, and then Loki will see his mother free.   
  


(He brings home presents every time. Nothing like she had once had, but every time she is pleased, every time she smiles, every time she kisses her forehead or pats his cheek and says "Someday I will be able to give you presents you deserve dear one. Until then, have my love."   
"And someday mother, I will be able to return with trophies fit for the queen you are.")   
  


(It is past the time he bothered keeping track of numbers when they put their plan into motion. But the trophy he gives her truly is fit for a queen.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one that's a bit short. People are welcome to submit prompts (to help me avoid testing my writing skill against actually writing some of the more challenging things on my docket)


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, when a ruler was crowned, he'd give gifts as well as receive them. Who is Hela to buck tradition?

Hela emerges from her long exile with her hair a mess, her garb worn and her eyes sunken.

 

She emerges smiling triumphantly, dark power washing her straight to where her son is waiting, covered in blood (for Odin's death had been a violent, messy one, driven by hate and rage and viciousness) and laughing with delight.

 

She emerges into Odin's golden throne room and it is so very tacky but such a welcome sight, one she has been away from for far too long. But her father is dead and she is free and there is work to be done.

 

The people who had been unable to stop her son (and what could? He is _her_ son after all) are screaming and fleeing from the place, yelling for guards and Thor and help and she ignores them. Garbs herself in more fitting attire, and sweeps her hands back across her head because this moment, claiming her throne, deserves a bit of gravitas, a bit of drama. Besides, it makes Loki happy to see his mother in her full regalia.

 

She gestures, hand languid, and he snaps his fingers, no longer a blood covered servant but the perfect child, blue skinned and red eyed and sending out frost until he slides his illusions on. She rewards him with a kiss on the forehead and her pride and reminders of the glories to come.

 

And then… well, her father has made a mess of the place. Like planting roses above a battle ground and pretending that corpses aren't nourishing the roots. And he has wiped _her_ away. But not completely. Merely painted over, covered up.

 

Ha.

 

She is emerging from the place below (and if Odin was not dead she would have killed him for what he did to her Fenrir. As it is, she is _glad_ that her child made him suffer) when she sees him. Oh, he looks nothing like her. Nothing like Odin. But she knows him for who he is.

 

"Hello brother dear. Come to pledge your fealty to your new queen?"  
" _Who are you!_ "   
  
It is a bellow, and she sort of understands. If she had been raised in this place without a shred of knowledge of the work that had gone into forging it and had had _her_ sibling's very memory erased, she'd be a bit peeved herself. But she wasn't raised in this place and she _is_ the erased sibling.

 

"Why, didn't Odin ever tell you? I'm your _sister_. Hela. First born and now Queen of Asgard. And Goddess of Death."

 

He is staring and she can see the hammer, knows the hammer and she is unafraid.

 

"Loki, be a dear and say hello to your uncle."  
"Hello Uncle Thor."   
  
Loki's tone is taunting and a glance to the side reveals his knife edge smile. And red eyes.

 

The problem with a hammer such as his, is that there are always such obvious tells when you're about to use it.

 

Hela catches Mjolnir in one hand, brushes hair behind her ear with the other (because she had set aside her horns when she was introducing Loki to Fenrir) and looks to her son.

 

"And this darling, is why we don't rely upon magical items to do all our work for us."

 

And then she calls upon her power and _breaks_ it.

 

Loki looks adoring, ever delighted by his mother's strength.

Thor looks… horrified is not quite the right word. Bereft? Stunned? Easily captured by a nephew trained to be quick and cunning and resourceful?

 

Certainly the last one.

  
  


"Now Loki, where do you think we should send your uncle? Think carefully now. We want him to be well taken care of, now don't we?"

"Of course Mother. I would never want dear Uncle Thor to think we were going to send him away and remove any evidence he ever existed. That would be rude. I think… Sakaar. The Grandmaster is always looking for new toys, and the warm regard of such a man might be useful."

"Just what I was thinking myself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a couple days. If anyone has any scenes they'd like to see, just tell me in the comments.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here among the ice and snow, the steps towards a new age are taken.

It is cold here, but Loki has never feared the cold. He is Jotun, beneath the mask he wears and his mother's realm was far from any of the sun's warmth. The chill shadows of his home have left him well prepared for the freezing ice of Jotunheim.

 

Besides, the leather and furs his mother dressed him in would have kept him comfortable in the midst of a raging blizzard.

 

He steps off the intangible branch he'd walked to get here, holds his head high (is comforted by the weight of the horns his mother crafted for him) and strides toward what his bones tell him is where Laufey lurks.

 

(Laufey, ruler of the Jotun. Laufey, defeated by Odin's trickery. Laufey, the parent he was first stolen from. Laufey, who is in for a bit of a surprise.)

 

He is not stopped on his way there, over the ice bridges and past ice walls, completely unafraid (for he is Loki, son of Hela, goddess of death and future Queen of Asgard and he fears nothing the realms can offer).

 

The Jotun that eventually stop him are tall and broad and obviously veterans of the last war and they are unamused to see what seems like an Asgardian striding through their world.

 

"Think to die an inglorious death?"

"Oh no. Think to gather an army and bring glory to my mother's name. And seek to offer you revenge against Odin. You do want that, don't you? But I would like to speak with Laufey first. Hardly fitting to do otherwise, yes? Besides, it is to him I should make my promise of the return of your greatest treasure."

 

A huge hand reaches out, grabs his face and he doesn't flinch. Doesn't blink. Simply feels his disguise melt away like snow in the sun, leaving him as what he is without it. Blue skin, red eyes, sharp smile.

 

His mother had not known much of his people, but she offered him what she could. A fierce people who had not broken beneath her blades, but had needed to be felled by Odin's treachery. A people to be proud of. And he is unafraid to see his skin as it truly is. He wears his mask because he likes to look more like his mother, not because he is ashamed of himself.

 

"What, surprised? It is easier to walk the realms when my touch does not cause frost to form. Now. Laufey?"

 

It is not so long a trip, although it is difficult to keep up with his guides without seeming to hurry.

 

But then there is Laufey and his honor guard, emerging from the eternal ice.

 

"Who dares trespass so?"

 

And Loki resists the urge to smile. Because this is what he was raised for. This is what he is _good_ at.

 

"Greetings Laufey, fallen king of ice and snow. My mother sends her regards."

"Fallen? Pah! You have not answered my question. And why should I care what your mother says?"  
"The answers to those are one and the same. I am Loki Helason and my mother is the Goddess of Death herself. And I am here to make you a deal."

 

Laufey had stared when he said his name but his eyes, as red as blood on snow, sharpen at the word 'deal'.

 

"And what sort of deal do you offer?"  
"Your soldiers and your fealty to my mother. In exchange for the Casket of Ancient Winters. And, of course, the knowledge that Odin died in agony, that one of your own was his downfall and that you will have any aid you might need in getting revenge upon every realm which looked down upon you in the time since your fall."

"Your mother has the Casket?"  
"She will. When she is Queen."

 

The ice remembers his mother. The Jotun remember his mother. _Laufey_ remembers his mother, through the ice and through his people.

 

And Loki has a silver tongue and a way of making people _want_ to believe. And he's telling the truth. What use is a trinket like the Casket compared to all his mother's power?

 

It takes a little more work, of course. A little more cunning. But in the end, Laufey yields. His mother will have her soldiers and a new vassal. The Jotun will have the Casket and a place of honor in the bloody golden age to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter comes from a list of prompts Hugggg suggested, and I hope you enjoy it (and the stories that come after too)


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some who remember would rather forget (but really shouldn't)

Hela might have been wiped from Asgard's history and memory (with lies and paint and time) but those realms she visited (with her Fenrir and her armies and her power) have not forgotten.

 

Those realms brought under Asgard's control (and then sent away again, with the illusion that they are something other than what they are) with blade and blood knew the terror of her arrival. Knew the terror of trying to stand against her and being slaughtered. Knew the terror of screaming and screaming and knowing the only reason you still had a voice to do it was that someone out  _ there _ thought of it as music.

 

They know the reason she is called the goddess of  _ death _ .

 

And when the news reaches them, that Hela is  _ free,  _ that Hela is  _ queen _ , that Hela is  _ coming _ …

 

They know what has just been unleashed again.

 

She has been a kraken in the sea of memory.

She has been a monster under every bed.

She has been the laughing source of a thousand thousand nightmares.

She has been the unstoppable force that shattered realms.

She has been the maker of widows and orphans and corpses.

 

She is  _ back _ .

 

There are debates, desperate and afraid, of what is best to do taking place across the galaxy.

 

Try to hold out? Hope that this time,  _ this time _ , they will be able to safely weather the storm?

Bend the knee now and hope that quick oaths will gain them favor?

Flee and pray to whatever god there could be of mercy and justice and luck that they will get away?

 

Choices are made.

 

Fortifications are built.

Messages are sent.

Bags are packed.

 

"Are our forces ready?"   
"Yes Mother."

"Good. I never got to see what happens to a realm the Casket has been used on. This should be interesting."

 

"Another messenger to see you Your Majesty."

"Ah, let me guess, here to offer me fealty and their most sincere congratulations on my taking the throne?"   
"As far as I can tell Your Majesty."   
"Well, let them in then. I do so love to hear people grovel."

 

"No one was there."   
"Let me guess, they left as fast as they could. Can we track them?"   
"Yes."

"Good. Send some of Asgard's finest to show them running won't save them. ...And send my son."

"Yes."

"Then go find that list my Loki made of realms worthy of a royal gift. Might as well make use of this place."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The other one Hugggg suggested. Admittedly, not quite what they wanted I think. But it's what my brain gave me. Now to finish psyching myself up for the next ones.

**Author's Note:**

> Cheerful liberties have been taken with Hela's abilities while she was lurking, waiting for Odin to croak. And she can't have been a worse parent than Odin, right?


End file.
